All you need to know about the Indian participants at the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

Nadeem Iqbal

Nadeem Iqbal

Age: 30

Category: Crosscountry Skiing

Claim to fame: 1st Kashmiri soldier to participate in Winter Olympics

Nadeem Iqbal is a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. He serves with the High Altitude Warfare School of the Indian Army at Gulmarg. He is the first Kashmiri soldier to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Iqbal got his ticket to Sochi after he qualified at the Federation Internationale Ski Nordic Qualifying Races in Italy and France in November and December of 2013 respectively.

Iqbal belongs to Bharot village in Rajouri and joined the Army in March 2003. His physical fitness and skiing potential saw him being selected by HAWS instructors in 2004 for ski training.

Iqbal won the gold medal in the first South Asian Winter Games held in Uttarakhand in 2011, and stood fourth in the Asian Winter Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan, that same year. His medal performances in the Asian Games earned him a promotion to havaldar, and if he wins an Olympic medal he might even be promoted to the rank of junior commissioned officer.

Iqbal also participated in the Nordic World Championship in February 2013.

Colonel Satya Pal Malik, who is in charge of the Armi ski team, said this about Iqbal: “Iqbal has all the potential to win a medal for the country even though the competition is very tough and foreign players have more exposure and training than him. We have faith in him,”